queenofheartsrp | s vs. z | 010 [action/video]

[Sephiroth has few fears. She had fewer before arriving in the Gardens. Back home, everything is so certain. She keeps the peace, protects the populace. She is a hero. Here, she saw the look of fear and hatred in Tifa's eyes. She is mindful of the strange blankness in Reeve's expression whenever she mentions SOLDIER. Reeve has told her certain things, and the things Reeve does not say speak almost as clearly.

I will disappear. My friends will disappear. How similar is her own world to the worlds of those others? That is a question she cannot answer. The fear in Tifa's eyes and the knowledge in Reeve's trouble her.

Yet she did not truly know Tifa, and Reeve does not fear her. She wonders: what if she someday finds herself face to face with someone she knows, who also fears her? That, perhaps, is why she stands facing a young woman with black hair and blue eyes that hold a faint glow not unlike the glow in her own eyes. The woman's sword is drawn, and the expression on her face is nearly the one Tifa wore. There is more loathing than fear in those shining eyes.]

I have no desire to fight you, Zack.

[Sephiroth's sword is not drawn, because she does not wish to hurt Zack. This is most likely one of the illusions, but there is a slim chance it could be a real Zack, from another world. She does not know Zack well, back home. There, he is a young man: Angeal's protégé. He is bright, excitable. Tifa had spoken of him here, had said he had died. Sephiroth had wondered if Tifa meant to suggest that that might have had something to do with her, but she cannot say for certain.]

Please, sheathe your sword.

[The young woman does not listen to her, strikes with a quickness only a SOLDIER could manage. She's older. She is a SOLDIER. Sephiroth does not react in time, because she does not want to engage in this fight. She feels a sting, and when she looks down, her neck and chest are bright with blood. She takes a step back. The wound is superficial. She could heal it in an instant, but she does not. Blood trickles down over the black leather of her clothing. She's never been wounded in battle before, but this isn't a battle, is it? Zack has leapt back as quickly as she attacked, as if fearing a counter-attack. She is breathing hard, eyes wide. At last she speaks, echoing words Tifa had said.]

You're supposed to be dead.

[It is not the thought that she might die that troubles her, but the thought that her death could be seen as preferable to the alternative.]

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Yes, Reeve. I know.

[Sephiroth does not listen, precisely. But it is not her will, not even her underlying worries, that keep her still now. It is training. Her desire is to turn at once and strike, run the phantom through with her sword. Yet that goes against everything she has been taught, since she was born.]

[Hojo turns toward Reeve with a kind of affability that does not seem affable at all.]

[She says "Urban Development" as some might speak of an infestation of vermin. She shakes her head and laughs again.]

[The remark seems pointed, somehow.] [She gestures amusedly toward Sephiroth, still caught in a war between conditioning and will.]

[Before she can stop herself (after all it isn't real--is it) Reeve has taken a step back. Hojo. Not that they've ever had much contact, but she's aware in a general, peripheral way, of what the man thinks of her work. Still, this is different. Jarring. The personal insults she's heard before, and she doesn't mean to respond, but the rest--]

No. That isn't true. All the research, it belongs to Shinra--I've never had a say about any other than my intended applications. SOLDIER is-- she isn't erratic. She's a human being for God's sake!

[Hojo just laughs for a minute at this, as if she finds it the best joke in the world.]

[Sephiroth turns toward Hojo then, perhaps because she is recovering, or perhaps because Hojo has said her name. She regards the professor, her face void of emotion now, but her green eyes very bright. It is now impossible to tell what she might be thinking.]

[Hojo's laughter is louder than it should be out of doors. It's rattling. Reeve does her best not to show how much-- she takes a deep breath. But lets it escape as Sephiroth turns to face the scientist. What she's feeling now is closer to anger.]

Of course we aren't on the same level, of course she's superior-- she was made that way! But that doesn't mean she isn't a human being, dammit.

And yes, I know you aren't interested in my "moralizing", even though your work is dependent on mine to a degree. I wouldn't expect acknowledgment or respect from the actual Professor Hojo-- I certainly don't expect it from you. Whatever you are.

[At this, Sephiroth does stir, but not so Reeve can see at first. One instant she is gone, and then next she is upon Professor Hojo, sliding her sword through the professor's body. The woman's face distorts oddly--she seems to be about to laugh again, but before she can make any sound, she disappears.]

[Reeve realizes her hands are on her face, covering her mouth but not her eyes. So fast. Faster than she's ever seen Sephiroth move. Than she's ever seen anything move. And of course it wasn't real, it couldn't be real, could never be real, but--]

Oh, God.

[the way the black sword slid right through. Swift and inexorable as death itself.
She knows she's staring. She knows that in a moment she'll say something. She has no idea what that will be, what words will come. Her hands falls to her sides, but she doesn't approach Sephiroth.]

No. You were the monster here.

[Sephiroth explains, simply:] He would not have given you any credit for his work. Not even for your influence. [With that proof, she had been able to move as she wished. And that was what she had wished to do.]

I believe he may have been sent for you. [He would have said different things to her, she imagines, not that she would like anything he might have to say. Unlike Zack, she cannot refer to him as female. He is different.]

As I don't wish you to be distressed further, we should leave. [Though she glances back over her shoulder as if half-expecting to see another SOLDIER.]

[Reeve exhales, reaches back to straighten her ponytail-- tries to regain her shaken composure. She laughs, briefly and perhaps a little unsteadily.]

Yes. He probably was-- and we probably should.

[She looks up into Sephiroth's face, as if searching for something there.]
Though you won't stay away, will you? Once I'm safely put away.

I am not sure what I will do. Perhaps there is no point in chasing shadows. [She pauses.] But perhaps there is.

The fight was stimulating enough. Usually there is some so-called "lesson" in these events, but I am not sure what the Queen intends to teach us.

She wishes to pledge our devotion to each other. Does she think distressing us will accomplish this?

[Reeve smiles, a little wry.]
Possibly. Of course, not all of us require that sort of motivation.

But no, I don't think things will work out in the way she's planned-- human response to negative stimuli is variable. It can result in an urge for isolation just as often as it can an urge for companionship. But I'm sure you're aware of all this-- and I'm glad you enjoyed your fight, I suppose. [She chuckles, though she's plainly feeling drained.]
You might just be the only person to get at least a little something you actually wanted out of this ghastly experiment.

[She found it troubling, but it was illusory.] It was not ideal, but others may also gain something. As you said, human reactions are variable.

[They walk away from the border together, and Sephiroth is quiet for a short time before asking:] Zack is a man in my world, as well. Do you know him?

[Tired and rattled as she is, Reeve isn't entirely surprised by the question. Zack Fair.]
In a manner of speaking. I knew him in passing, yes. He was-- a very well respected SOLDIER.

[Normally, she might take a stab at dissembling, but at the moment she feels in need of a little firm reality. The truth as she knows it isn't really very shocking anyhow.]
He went Missing In Action around the same time the General did, actually. I've heard nothing sense. Are you close? In your universe?

[Sadness flickers in her eyes for a moment.] I see.

I don't know him well, though perhaps I will know him better, in time. He is Angeal's protégé.

I imagine Zack appeared because such a change, in him, would be most jarring. Angeal calls him "the Puppy", because he is very like one. [She pauses.] Tifa spoke of him, also.

[Dryly spoken.] Did she.

[Reeve's smile is a little tired.] Yes, I can see that-- and I imagine it must have been a much more drastic change for you than it was for me. I'm sorry-- if that's appropriate. I know it was meant to, but sometimes, this place... [Reeve sighs, squaring her shoulders.]

well, never mind. No point in complaining about something I can't change.

Are you sure you won't stay-- rather than go in search of more trouble?

s vs. z | 010 [action/video]

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